Ripe Mango Chronicles

We watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas every Christmas Eve at the Hope House. It has become a tradition; I was thinking about traditions this year and had one of those “Ah Ha” moments. How incredible that I get to be the one to start some of these fun Christmas time traditions with the kids. I picture Michelove or Stevenson all grown up watching the Grinch with their kids telling them, “When I lived in the orphanage we watched this movie every Christmas Eve.” Of course I like to imagine they would continue with something along the lines of, “Growing up at the orphanage was a great blessing. We would not be where we are today if God has not intervened and brought me to that orphanage so many years ago.” Christmas is kind of a big deal at the Hope House. The kids talk about the party year round. They start right away on December 26th with their questions; What are we going to do for Christmas next year? Are we going to get presents? Will we eat at the guest house? Will we sleep in the

Pierre the miracle baby has been released from the hospital and is finally home. The doctors told us he wouldn’t make it. The mommies didn’t think he would make it. I didn’t think he would make it. A few emails and a few hundred prayers later and here he is smiling away! Through all of this we have discovered that Pierre has a cyst in his brain and needs brain surgery. We are working hard to get a medical visa for him to go to Austin, Texas for surgery at Dell Children’s Hospital. This cannot happen without a few mountains being moved, thankfully our God is known for mountain moving! Please pray that everything comes together for him to get this surgery. Peace, love and home sweet home! Rachel

I know many of you have been waiting for an update on sweet Pierre. I have not been able to send one because I have not had contact with anyone at the hospital since the riots began Tuesday night. Thankfully yesterday things calmed down enough for us to get through with our ambulance. I waited anxiously to hear how he was doing. I had a missed call Thursday morning at 3:00am from an unknown number, which made me nervous, I thought the call was possibly from someone at the hospital calling with bad news. When Frantz, the orphanage supervisor, got back, I called him to hear how Pierre and the mommy who had been with him were. Frantz told me he was coming up to talk to me. I panicked, thinking the worst. I ran down to meet Frantz asking him what was going on. He laughed and pulled out his phone to show me a video he had taken of Pierre LAUGHING!! Can you believe it, laughing and smiling! The same Pierre who has been on his deathbed for the past two weeks, Praise the Lord! He is still in

Good morning, Pierre is doing ok. He is still in the critical care unit but is apparently doing a little better. Cheryl was able to speak with one of the doctors who has been working with him, she said that there has been some improvement. We are still waiting for the results of the Meningitis tests, which should be back in the next few days. He will be going in for a CT Scan today or tomorrow hopefully which might provide some answers as well. The doctor said we just need to wait out the next few days to see what happens, if he does continue to improve he could possibly be moved to a regular in the near future. To be honest I was confused by Cheryl’s report from the doctor after I went in, because he appeared worse than he was on Tuesday. He was seizing off and on while I was in with him. Mommy Morpeau (The mommy staying with him yesterday) called last night to let me know that he had stopped seizing and was looking much better than when she first saw him yesterday, which was just a